MP Graham Jones will take fight to keep Haslingden Agapao Impact Centre open to Parliament

Haslingden MP Graham Jones has vowed to take the fight to save a community building to Parliament.

FIGHT IS ON: MP Graham Jones has pledged to raise concerns over the sale of the Agapao Impact Centre in Parliament

Haslingden MP Graham Jones has vowed to take the fight to save a community building to Parliament.

Mr Jones has pledged to raise concerns over the sale of the Agapao Impact Centre in Haslingden by charity Agapao International.

The centre houses charities Home Start Rossendale and the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, who say they could end up homeless if the building is sold.

Mr Jones recently attended a packed public meeting where residents raised concerns that the building would be lost to the people of Haslingden if it was sold commercially.

He said he will raise a parliamentary question about the issue and the wider issue of charity governance in the new year.

He said: “There are a lot of issues that need to be considered and I want to gather substantive evidence on the points raised at the meeting.

“I think the laws governing charities in Britain are lax.”

The centre originally opened in 2000 as the Mary Hindle Resource Centre after the Haslingden Community Forum secured money from the Lottery, North West Development Agency, Rossendale Council and single regeneration budget money known as Action for Haslingden totalling nearly £270,000 to develop and equip the former pub premises.

When the funding was granted the Big Lottery Fund imposed a 10 year covenant insisting that the building would have to be used for community use, but this expired in June 2010.

Mr Jones told the Free Press he had been pursuing the issue with the Land Registry and Charity Commission among other bodies.

But he said he was not hopeful that there was a legal avenue that could prevent the sale.

The centre was put up for sale by the charity despite having been bought with grant funding from various groups for it to be used by the Haslingden community.

The MP’s move has been welcomed by the groups affected by the closure and community leaders.

Peter Sweetmore, who is campaigning to prevent the sale, said he was hopeful that raising the issue in Parliament would help their cause.

He said: “Hopefully it will trigger a reaction from Agapao to make a statement and let people know what’s going on.”

Agapao did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by the Free Press.

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